Mark Buehrle's milestone attempt backfires in a big way for Blue Jays

Mark Buehrle took the mound on the final day of the regular season Sunday looking for a milestone in what's expected to be the final appearance of a remarkable career.

The aging lefty was pitching on one day of rest hoping to helping the Toronto Blue Jays capture home-field advantage in the playoffs while reaching the 200-inning plateau for a 15th consecutive season. Buehrle is reportedly set to retire after Sunday's game and won't be a part of the playoff roster.

[Also: Follow The Stew's Game 162 live blog for all the final-day MLB drama.]

But allowing Buehrle to chase an historic milestone instead of sending a more rested pitcher out for the start proved to be ill-conceived. Tampa Bay jumped all over Buehrle in the first inning, scoring eight unearned runs, including four that came on a grand slam to center field by designated hitter Joey Butler.

Buehrle didn't even make it out of the inning. He was replaced Ryan Tepera, who recorded the third out after allowing a two-run homer to Mikie Mahtook.

[Related: Four things to watch on the final day of the MLB regular season]

It's understandable how Toronto manager John Gibbons decided to give Buehrle the start. He has been one of the most durable pitchers in the game throughout his career and he certainly earned an opportunity to chase the 200-innings milestone with another strong season this year.

But some will certainly second-guess the decision considering it will cost the Blue Jays home field advantage in a possible playoff matchup with Kansas City. Of course, it's still possible the Blue Jays and their powerful bats could make a comeback and win, but Kansas City is leading the Twins 5-0 in the third inning of its game. A Royals win would give it home field advantage regardless of what happened with Toronto.

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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo